If you haven't yet seen one of the new electronic books, you soon will. Are they worth reading?

Some nights, I wish my wife had an e-book, one of those battery-powered gadgets with high-resolution screens that can hold thousands of pages of best-selling text. I have always been a Princess and the Pea kind of sleeper. The slightest noise--even the sound of a page being turned--is enough to make me sit bolt upright, as if a torpedo had just slammed into the powder room. E-books are noiseless. Also, since they are backlit, your bedmate can read them in the dark.

I decided this was as good a reason as any to take one of the new gizmos for a...